I have recently acquired the Epsilon 2-band 27/50 [left] and the 27/55 [right]. They are both beautiful brushes. The 27/50, for some reason, took a significant breaking-in period. It stunk like no other brush I had, and would NOT generate a nice thick lather. After several shampoos, detergent washes and hand latherings it has finally come into its own. The 27/55 was much much less funkified and immediately whipped up a great lather, right out of the box.

The backbone and density are well beyond the call of duty and when you consider there is no scritch at all I am dumbfounded how they found the hair used for these knots. The 27/55 may appear a bit less dense, however I think that it splays out, or blooms more than the 27/50. The latter appears in the picture exactly as it appeared out of the box - not enough splay to show any bloom. For the money, could be the best brushes out there.

Vie-Long are famous, and justly so as THE maker of horsehair brushes. They have made a few runs of badger; the Epsilons, Beehive and 75th that
are well received and as we agree good as any. I expect there will be more offerings in the future.

Those look really nice. I am currently trying out a pair of horse hair brushes from them...I'm not sold on horse hair yet though. I may need to try one of their badgers if the horse ones don't make it into my rotation.

(05-04-2016, 05:36 AM)chromedometone Wrote: How does the 2 band 27 x 55 compare to the chubby 2?

Well, it certainly has more backbone and less scritch than the Chubby 2 in best. I cannot speak to the Chubby 2 in super. Sorry. With respect to the Chubby 2 2-band of a few years ago, I think it has a bit more backbone and a bit less scritch, but they are quite close - this version of Chubby 2 did not require any breaking in.

I liked my butterscotch Epsilon 27/50 2-band so much that I purchased the same brush in ivory. This knot is outstanding and it's amazing at its price point. I thought about trying the 27/55. However, the 27/50 is so perfect for me that I opted not to risk going with the higher loft.